Kerala Church Body Announces Free Education, Other Incentives For Families With 5 Or More Kids

At a time when population control should be among the priorities of government and other influential groups like religions, a Catholic Church body in Kerala is doing the opposite.

The Pala diocese of the Syro Malabar Church has announced sops for all families in their diocese if they have five or more children and this would be applicable to couples who have been married after 2000.

BCCL

The announcement was made by the Pala Bishop Joseph Kallarangatt while taking part in an online meeting.

What the church said

The same was posted on the official Facebook page of the diocese on Monday but was deleted after it was widely reported in the local media.

The church body later issued a clarification saying that everything that the Bishop promised was its official position, and that will be honored.

The incentives include:

• -a monthly scholarship of Rs 1500, starting from the fourth child and to all future kids of a family
• - education with scholarship at the church-run St Joseph's College of Engineering and Technology
• -free medical facility for every child after the fourth at the church-run hospital.

"It was announced as part of the 'Year of the Family' celebrations by the church. This initiative is to provide assistance to large families especially in the post-COVID-19 scenario.

We will start receiving applications soon and most probably, we will be able to hand out assistance from August," Fr Joseph Kuttiankal, who heads the Family Apostolate under the church, told PTI.

BCCL

The announcements come at a time when several prominent members of the church have expressed concerns over the decline of the Christian population in the southern state.

"It's a reality that the population of the Christian community is going down. Our growth rate is less. That is also a reason but the immediate reason is to provide assistance to the large families which are finding it difficult to make both ends meet due to the pandemic," he said.

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"During the formation of Kerala, Christians were the second largest community in the state. But now, the community is only 18.38 per cent of the state's total population. In recent years, the birth rate in the Christian community has decreased to 14 per cent," Archbishop of Changanacherry Joseph Perumthottam had said in 2019.

Even as the announcement was met with criticism from several corners, the Idukki diocese of the Syro Malabar Church also announced a similar scheme on Tuesday.

BCCL

The Church-run Holy Family School in Kunchithanny, near Munnar, has said that the third child in the family will only have to pay 50% tuition fees and it will be free for the fourth child onwards.